Windsor simplifies, renames event -- get ready for Volgafest

Instead of the annual Oktoberfest, Windsor will present event honoring its German/Russian heritage

Sep. 26, 2013

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After years of fun yet kitschy and cliched Oktoberfest celebrations, town of Windsor staff thought it was time to get back to Windsor’s roots, which feature a deep history of German immigration from areas around Russia’s Volga River.

That’s why this year, instead of Oktoberfest, the town will be putting on Volgafest, a simple yet authentic event featuring food, festivities and Dutch Hop dancing from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Community Recreation Center, 250 N. 11th St.

“The town of Windsor’s Oktoberfest was originally just an opportunity for people to get together and dance and listen to music before the town grew and became what it is today,” said Carrie Knight, the town’s arts and heritage manager. “It came to a point where we knew we had a really special event here that could do more to honor our local heritage by going back to the original spirit of the event, so we changed the name and put more of an emphasis on those folks who emigrated from the Volga River region.”

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thousands of German-Russian immigrants came from the Volga River area and settled in agricultural communities across the United States, including Windsor.

One Windsor resident was quoted in Mary Alice Lindblad’s “A Walk through Windsor” jokingly saying, “All of the Germans from Russia came to Windsor.”

Many German-Russian families took to the fields once in town, putting in the back-breaking hours needed to farm sugar beets — a crop that easily became what Windsor was known for until the Great Western Sugar Company factory closed in the 1960s.

Signs of Windsor’s heritage can still be found throughout town today, whether they be in the distinctly German names on gravestones in Lakeview Cemetery or in the Old World designs of many Main Street storefronts that were redesigned several decades ago before Eastman Kodak Co. came to town.

By simplifying the event, Knight said she hopes to get back to its original intent, which is to bring the community together.

“It’s been years that we’ve been experimenting with this event and, after trying a myriad of different things, we realized there’s a real unique draw here for the residents of Windsor,” Knight said, adding they hope that by changing up the event, they’ll be able to honor the original traditions of the German-Russian heritage.

Besides offering food made from traditional German and German-Russian recipes, Stan Schilling, a Fort Collins resident who’s been overseeing the Dutch Hop and polka dancing at Windsor’s Oktoberfest in previous years, will host dance competitions for people of all age groups and skill levels.

Schilling said he was born into polka and Dutch Hop dancing since his parents were such avid dancers and often took their children to dances.

“Our family has danced since, good lord, for years and years,” Schilling said, adding that Dutch Hop is authentic and fun for the whole family.